New music
Albums of the Year 2021: Katherine Priddy - The Eternal Rocks BeneathWednesday, 22 December 2021
Katherine Priddy’s debut album came out in the summer, and it’s remained a high point for the rest of the year as 2021 plays out to the sombre drums and drones of resurgent pandemic warnings, fresh lockdowns, closed venues, silenced auditoriums. Her... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2021: Greta Van Fleet - The Battle at Garden's GateTuesday, 21 December 2021
Is there anything more comforting to men of a certain vintage than the crunching guitars and wailing vocals of classic rock? Not for me. This year, the genre transported me back to a musical era of sheer joy and wild, creative spirit; a time when... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2021: Limiñanas / Garnier - De PelículaMonday, 20 December 2021
2021 was a year of two halves in New Musicworld. For the first seven months or so, venues remained closed and live performances were either a cherished memory or something experienced online. During the last five months, however, concert halls and... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: The Beau Brummels - Turn Around The Complete Recordings (1964-1970)Sunday, 19 December 2021
“I do like this record. Despite their tremendously loser name, this group from America is pretty good. They have a sound of their own added to by Byrd-like guitar playing and Everly Brothers voices. In a funny way, it’s rather sexy.”Although Penny... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2021: Dry Cleaning - New Long LegSunday, 19 December 2021
There’s something about a search for fine detail in the music I’ve listened to this year, whether it’s reaching to recognise the Orkney birdsong in Erland Cooper’s Holm (Variations & B-Sides) or conjuring up images of the characters Arlo Parkes... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2021: Toya Delazy - Afrorave Vol 1Saturday, 18 December 2021
2021 might not seem the most likely of years for the globalisation of dance music to intensify, what with the lack of travel and the lack of... well... dancing. But, in fact, thanks partly to the enforced time spent online which led to a lot of... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2021: Marina - Ancient Dreams in a Modern LandFriday, 17 December 2021
We did that whole state-of-things COVID/Brexit/anxiety/neurosis blah-blah in the end-of-year pieces last year. And, indeed, the year before (when Bozza was elected). Not this year. I’m over that. Let’s crack on. Live life. Own it. All that. An... Read more... |
First Person: Harpist Rachel Newton on creating music to accompany two well-loved books celebrating nature, poetry and magicThursday, 16 December 2021
I am fortunate to be one of the musicians involved in Spell Songs, a musical companion piece to both The Lost Words and The Lost Spells by acclaimed author Robert Macfarlane and award-winning illustrator and author Jackie Morris.There have been... Read more... |
Album: José James - Merry Christmas From José JamesThursday, 16 December 2021
José James regularly steps away from the straight jazz singer berthed for years at Blue Note, pining to be an R&B voice for broader black audiences. Covering both Freestyle Fellowship and Rashaan Roland Kirk on his debut The Dreamer (2008), his... Read more... |
Album: Norah Jones - I Dream of ChristmasWednesday, 15 December 2021
“I wanna hear the music play, I wanna dance and laugh and sway” sings Norah Jones on “Christmas Calling”, the opening track of this her first festive outing, “I wanna happy holiday for Christmas”. Doubtless when she recorded I Dream of Christmas,... Read more... |
The Men They Couldn't Hang, Powerhaus Camden review - raucous farewell to the fallenTuesday, 14 December 2021
To clarify: this is less a review, more a dispatch from a raucous wake. We all have a band that means something extra. Mine is The Men They Couldn't Hang, who I saw on Saturday night at the Powerhaus in Camden for the umpteenth time.I first came... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 68: Patrik Fitzgerald, Oasis, Kathryn Williams, R.E.M., Bess Atwell and a seasonal load moreTuesday, 14 December 2021
As we ride towards the holiday break on our magic reindeer, it’s time for one last theartsdesk on Vinyl, a seasonal special that, if you scroll down, contains all the usual up-to-date music reviews but, before that, takes a look at Yuletide-themed... Read more... |
